Supreme Court reserves order on fresh probe into Haren Pandya killing

The Supreme Court reserved orders on Tuesday on a petition seeking a fresh investigation into the murder of former Gujarat minister Haren Pandya. The petition was filed by the NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL). 

The Bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Vineet Saran expressed its doubts over whether newspaper reports dating back to 2010 and 2013 could be used to reopen the investigation into a crime when the legal process of trial and appeal is pending consideration with the top court.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who represented Gujarat government, told the court that the petitioner was abusing the judicial process as prior to this petition, the apex court had refused similar prayers made by Pandya’s widow and his father. Pandya, who was the home minister of Gujarat, was murdered in March 2003 at Ahmedabad.

However senior advocate Shanti Bhushan, representing CPIL, argued that new evidence had emerged by way of statement of certain witnesses in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. He referred to news reports and a book by a journalist which contained a statement by the original investigating officer who claimed that top politicians in the state were behind Pandya’s murder.

“What procedure are we setting,” the Bench asked SG Bhushan, “when the criminal appeal against the acquittal order by a high court is pending with us, you prefer to file a writ petition? Do we decide your petition or the criminal appeal?” The Court had been hearing the appeal for months together and had recently reserved orders on it.